Slideboard Intervals for Increased Skating Power

Last week was an exciting week for Emily and I as we bought our first home. We’ve bounced around from Baltimore to center city Philadelphia to Collingswood, NJ over the last 6 years, and finally decided to “settle down” and get a place in Cherry Hill. As always, the Endeavor Crew and my friend Shane made the move a breeze (it’s amazing what kind of work you get out of those guys for a few Chipotle burritos!).

It’s been an exciting, event-filled year to say the least!

A few months ago, I wrote an article outlining exactly how you could use specific training methods on a skating treadmill to elicit different adaptations.

The important take home from that article is that you can use one exercise (or tool) in a variety of ways that all cause the athlete to improve in very different ways. This is really true of any exercise and is one of the reasons why answering questions like “Is squatting good?” or “what’s the best exercise for…” so difficult. Everything always depends on who the athlete is, what he/she needs, how the exercise is performed (movement quality, load, speed, sets, reps, rest, etc.).

Many of our players are in a phase of their off-season program where the focus is on improving alactic power, or their ability to move explosively for short periods of time.

One method we’ll use is short duration slideboarding where the goal is to get as many reps as possible in the allotted time. The intent is to minimize glide time (you aren’t producing power while you glide) and “explode” from board to board as quickly as possible. The players then rest the remainder of the minute (e.g. 8s of work, 52s of rest) before going again. We’ll typically do this in two blocks of 6-10 reps, with 3-5 minutes between blocks.

The video below is of Rob Hennessey, who is headed to Providence as a freshman next year, demonstrating this method.

P.S. If you want to take the guess work out of your off-season training and start using a program proven to deliver results, be sure to check this out >> Ultimate Hockey Transformation

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Kevin Neeld Knows Hockey

Kevin has rapidly established himself as a leader in the field of physical preparation and sports science for ice hockey. He is currently the Head Performance Coach for the Boston Bruins, where he oversees all aspects of designing and implementing the team’s performance training program, as well as monitoring the players’ performance, workload and recovery. Prior to Boston, Kevin spent 2 years as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks after serving as the Director of Performance at Endeavor Sports Performance in Pitman, NJ. He also spent 5 years as a Strength and Conditioning Coach with USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Hockey Team, and has been an invited speaker at conferences hosted by the NHL, NSCA, and USA Hockey.